India has planted nearly 66 million trees in 12 hours

More than 67 million trees were planted by millions of people in a span of 12 hours in Indian State of Madhya Pradesh , setting a new Guinness reforestation record.

The event took place on Sunday in Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. More than 1.5 million people from all walks of life, ranging from students and housewives to government officials, planted a total of 66,750,000 tree saplings in just 12 hours. A total of 24 districts of Narmada river basin were identified for the plantation. The saplings included two-dozen varieties of plants sourced from different nurseries around the state.

The record of planting maximum saplings was earlier held by Uttar Pradesh, another Indian state, which planted nearly 50 million trees in a span of 24 hours in July 2016.

The state chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said:

I am greatly indebted to all who are planting trees today. We will be contributing significantly in saving nature. By participating in a plantation, people are contributing their bit to climate change initiatives and saving the environment.The world talks of global warming & climate change, but Madhya Pradesh has taken a concrete step to deal with it.

This mass-planting event will help in creating awareness of the government’s colossal nation-wide plan to make India green again. At the Paris Climate Change Conference, India pledged to increase forest cover to 95 million hectares (235 million acres) by year 2030. India’s government is putting forward $6.2 billion for this effort.

Other states in India are also taking similar initiatives to create public awareness towards reforestation. Kerala had planted more than 10 million trees in June this year in 24 hours. Maharashtra will plant 40 million trees this year as part of a reforestation campaign.